As every social marketer knows Facebook apps are a big deal. Facebook terms dictate that all contest activity on a brand's page must be managed though a 3rd party app; as a result apps have become the way brands promote events, contests, and giveaways. And any good app includes video!

Recently coBRANDiT has worked on a number of app projects. Our fave example is the app. built by Ignite Social Media for Ram Truck. The app was in support of Ram's Sponsorship of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and included giveaways of Ram schwag and a sweepstakes. How did it work?

Ram set up a mechanical bull at a bar in Detroit and 19 contestants mounted up and rode...coBRANDiT was there to shoot the action. We cut all the contestant videos up into a series of 30 second pieces, complete with a timer and slo-mo instant replay...Facebook users were invited to guess the length of time each rider stayed on. Winners received Ram gear!

Check out these screen shots below of the app in action...and a sample of the video! You may actually LOL.

coBRANDiT produces great social media video for brands, agencies, and organizations of all sizes. Check out our new reel and learn a bit about our history and our capabilites...want to learn more? Get in touch here.

Over the past 9 months we have produced close to 100 videos for brands, agencies, and organizations large and small. Here are our faves...

Ray-Ban brought us in to shoot Two Door Cinema Club at SXSW, Coachella, and Lollapalooza. Below are the tops vids from each location.

About 40 of the vids we've done are for Chrysler Brands including work for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram Truck, and Fiat. Below is a nifty timelapse we shot for Fiat in Miami, a blogger roundtable for Dodge, and a set of images from the livestreaming mission we ran for Dodge in Detroit...click here for more deets on that!

We also produce regular content for Microsoft's Cambridge HQ known as the NERD center...below is a piece we shot at a party they hosted for regional video game developers.

Here's something we put together for Boston's Safar Salon during National Fashion Week (ok...it was late 2010...but we still love the piece!)

We also produced many corporate videos for companies and organizations ranging from Ocean Spray to Genzyme to Disney. Below are examples of work for Sylvania and business organization MITX.

That's it for now! We gotta get back to work...there's still 3 months left to 2011. We'd love to add your videos to our faves list so get in touch if you'd like to discuss a project.

Ray-Ban's Never Hide campaign is an ongoing global marketing effort to target young, brave and nonconformist individuals. As part of this effort Ray-Ban sponsored Irish indie rockers Two Door Cinema Club as they performed at major American music festivals: SXSW, Coachella, and Lollapalooza.
Working with partner agency NMS, coBRANDiT covered the shows, conducted interviews, and shot behind-the-scenes content with the band. Finished pieces highlighted interview segments, top hits, and acoustic performances while also integrating fan content shot on consumer devices from the crowd and side stage. The results can be seen at Ray-Ban Films or at these locations: SXSW 1, SXSW 2, SXSW 3, Coachella 1, Coachella 2, Coachella 3, Lollapalooza 1, Lollapalooza 2.

coBRANDiT has produced 40+ vids for Chrysler over the past 10 months…the work is generally of a few types:

1) Art/mood pieces:
Fiat Miami mural painting timelapse (as seen above)
Fiat Stunt Driver in San Diego

2) Walkarounds: Intros to new vehicles
Dodge SRT8 Walkaround
Chrysler 300C Walkaround with John Furtuno
Ram Truck 1500 Express

3) Blogger roundtables/CEO interviews:
Dodge's Ralph Gilles Roundtable
Chrysler 300C Roundtable

4) Event coverage:
Fiat Press Event San Diego
Jeep NEMPA Awards

5) Livestreaming:
Dodge Woodward Dreamcruise

Most of this work is done on short notice, with finished videos delivered from 1-7 days after the shoot. Our approach and experience allows us to operate quickly and with minimal oversight...that's why our clients love us! (Read our recommendations here) For more details on our work with Chrysler, please contact us.

Held every year in Detroit on the 3rd weekend of August, the Woodward Dreamcruise is an unofficial celebration of the American auto industry. Dodge reserved a key location at Woodward and 13 Mile featuring vintage cars, custom hot rods, new Mopar technology and various entertainments. coBRANDiT was retained to provide live coverage of the event for 6 hours on Saturday afternoon.

How we did it: Camera 1 continually swept Woodward Ave, zooming in on burnouts, crazy rides, and Dodge vehicles. Camera 2 roved in the Dodge display, shooting details of the vintage cars and picking up interviews conducted by staffers of official Dodge blog Red Line Dodge. We cut between cameras and managed titles and the text crawl from a laptop nearby running Livestream's pro studio.

Each camera utilized a Live pack which wirelessly fed the signal to livestream's servers. We accessed the feeds through the studio interface (pictured above) which allowed us to switch between cameras, lay in titles, and pop in logos and text crawls. We also archived both feeds and had the ability to re-broadcast previous clips and pre-produced pieces. The entire production process was managed via a wireless 4G card...not really recommended (hardwired ethernet is more secure) but it works in a pinch. Dodge embedded the live broadcast in facebook.com/dodge and at the top of Red Line Dodge (see picture below).

coBRANDiT has managed numerous live broadcasts on both the livestream and ustream platforms. Get in touch if you'd like to discuss a live video project!

coBRANDiT produces video for some of the biggest names in the corporate world: Genzyme, Sylvania, Partners Health Care, Disney, Ford, Verizon, Forrester Research, Microsoft, Eli Lilly, Ocean Spray. Our work provides snappy, compelling video content for press releases, media sites, social sites, HR, intranets, investor meetings and sales pitches. Check out these samples below:

Above: OSRAM Sylvania's Dr. Chips discusses LED lighting technology.

Above: Chef Ming Tsai cooks up a cranberry recipe for Mickey Mouse and the Epcot Center (Client: Ocean Spray; edit by Disney).

Above: Ford's Scott Monty introduces the casting call for Ford Focus Rally America. This piece was shot, edited, and delivered in 10 hours on location at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas.

Above: Coverage of Microsoft Cambridge's Day of Caring employee volunteer event.

Above: A qualitative research project demonstrating proof-of-concept for a global PR agency's pitch to a leading provider of wireless, cable, and broadband services.

Get in touch if you would like to discuss how coBRANDiT can help tell your stories!

Microsoft's New England Research and Development Center (yes...the NERD Center...) has engaged coBRANDiT to produce an ongoing series of videos for both internal and external audiences. The internal vids we can't show you...they are typically covering new product initiatives and/or full length presentations by executives flown in from Redmond. For these we cut together 2 camera angles and slides from a powerpoint deck.

The external vids form a part of the NERD Center's extensive community outreach program, they can be seen on NERD's homepage and YouTube channel and include pieces covering parties thrown for area video game developers (see the video above), public talks by the head of Microsoft's Online Services Division, events honoring Easter Seals of Massachusetts and Women's History Month, as well as citywide employee volunteer efforts: the Day of Caring.

Have questions about our work with Microsoft? Get in touch!

coBRANDiT is helping get the word out on two open positions at PUMA's International marketing HQ located in Boston MA. The positions are perfect for those with solid community management experience...both operationally and strategically. PUMA is looking for a Global Social Media Manager and a Junior Digital Social Media Manager.

The positions are not yet live on PUMA HR's page...for the moment qualified candidates may submit resumes to pumaresume@gmail.com.

JOB NUMBER 1:
JOB TITLE: Global Social Media Manager
LOCATION: Puma North America, Inc., Boston, MA
JOB SUPERVISOR: Senior Global Digital Marketing Manager

Become a member of our Global Digital Marketing team within the International Marketing Department at PUMA North America, Inc. This position will have the strategic responsibility to create awareness of and engagement with our brand through a combination of blogger relations, social network management, community engagement, and viral marketing. Successful candidates will possess an awareness of social media tactics and strategies, an enthusiasm for maximizing PUMA’s global social media presence as well as impeccable communication and presentation skills.

Job Description:
• Develops and manages global community and content strategies for facebook.com/puma, other brand category Facebook pages, and strategies for other strategic public social networks.
• Coordinates and coaches global category managers, regional territory managers, and national market managers to program, develop and deploy relevant local social media content in 25+ global markets.
• Designs and develops marketing and communications campaigns within the social media and community space that align with global and digital campaigns, but that leverage the unique properties of the social marketing channel.
• Collaborates with internal and external creative resources to define a unique and distinct brand voice that reflects the joyful and fun attitude of PUMA.
• Seeds seasonal products for review and coverage within on line communities in alignment with our product and ecommerce marketing teams.
• Develops and manages relationships with global online bloggers, content providers, and other digital influencers in the Sports, Lifestyle and Fashion categories.
• Generates conversations and coverage in the digital channels that connect PUMA to its online consumer targets and drive brand awareness in our business categories.
• Packages and places original and syndicated content (video, etc.) tied to PR and marketing communications campaigns on relevant content platforms.
• Monitors online conversations to determine reach and impact of PUMA with online consumers
• Applies analytics to quantify and qualify effectiveness of interactive campaigns and reports findings to senior management
• Identifies trends taking place in mobile, viral marketing, blog and social networking spheres to help PUMA stay ahead of the curve
• Works with global Brand Management as well as PR, Interactive, and Creative teams to ensure alignment of all initiatives across all channels

We Expect:
• Bachelor’s of Arts in Marketing, or other related field
• 4-5 years post-college experience in social media or community management, or digital Public Relations
• Some experience in managing junior members of staff
• Excellent communications and presentation skills, as well as an awareness of and facility with communicating with team members in 5 regions and tens of markets around the world
• Strong research and analytical skills, including familiarity with Facebook insights, Google analytics and other industry standard analytics packages
• An ability to generate and drive breakthrough creative ideas for interactive and social media campaigns
• Knowledge of the social media environment and trends in the business
• Awareness of competitors’ social media marketing activities
• General awareness and knowledge of the sportswear and lifestyle product category
• High initiative, high energy, confidence, passion for the job, decisive eye for detail
• Willingness to learn and take creative and art direction
• Ability to excel in a fast paced environment without compromising quality

Do you think you could be a perfect match for this role? Submit your resume to PUMA at pumaresume@gmail.com

JOB NUMBER 2:
JOB TITLE: Junior Social Media Manager
LOCATION: Puma North America, Inc., Boston, MA
JOB SUPERVISOR: Global Social Media Manager

Become a member of our Interactive Marketing team within the International Marketing Department at PUMA North America, Inc. This position will take ownership of our social media communications process – developing plans and implementing against those plans. A strong copywriting background is a requirement, as successful candidates will be responsible for working with our global creative team to define the “voice” of the brand in the social media sphere, as well as providing support and sharing best practices with our regional and national teams around the world.

Job Description:
• Support the global Social Media Manager in the development of our social content plans – including wall posts, app development and releases, video posts, microblog posts, and blogger outreach.
• Develop content guidelines, copy guidelines, branding guidelines, and other tools for use by regional and national social media counterparts.
• Work with our regional and national social media contacts to share best practices, provide feedback and comments, and offer suggestions and guidance for their day-to-day social media efforts.
• Coordinate and implement all global-focused social media activities, including regular weekly global posts, and weekly updates to our community web pages.
• Compose copy and content for use within our global regional and national communities.
• Work with the regional e-commerce managers to maintain correct key items, product catalogs, or promotional, traffic driving product content within the context of our social communities.
• Work with the global PR team to ensure alignment with the brand press communications plans and calendars.
• Use analytics tools to review and optimize performance of content, and develop regular reports on social media KPIs
• Work with the rest of the marketing team to ensure that all communication campaigns drive traffic and conversions within the regional on-line stores via creative production, e-mail, and social media networks.

We Expect:
• Bachelor’s of Arts in marketing or any other related or adjacent field.
• 3-4 years post-college experience in social media, PR, or other relevant position.
• Knowledge of the social media environment and trends in the business.
• Awareness of competitor’s on-line social media activities.
• Ability to present information and communicate effectively with a variety of teams and individuals around the world.
• Experience in running or managing an community of some scale is a plus.
• General awareness and knowledge of the sportswear and lifestyle product category.
• High initiative, high energy, confidence, passion for the job, decisive eye for detail.
• Creative thinker and innovator with exceptional design/typography/layout skills.
• Willingness to learn and take creative and process direction.
• Ability to excel in a fast paced environment without compromising quality.

Do you think you could be a perfect match for this role? Submit your resume to PUMA at pumaresume@gmail.com

Good luck!

Yes you're looking at another infrequently updated company blog…but we have a good excuse! coBRANDiT has been very busy. Since the first of this year we have produced over 60 videos for 12+ clients, some directly and some with partner agencies. We have shot at SXSW and Coachella, been strapped into the back of speeding trucks, smuggled cameras through security, interviewed numerous global CEO's, and turned videos around in the same day. Eventually we'll get around to posting some of them…in the meantime please see samples on our facebook page or YouTube channel.

The client list YTD includes:
Ray-Ban, Chrysler Brands (including Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge RAM Truck, Fiat), Microsoft, Iron Mountain, Genzyme, Partners Healthcare, Sylvania, Covidien, Bentley University.

As of May 1 we've also deepened our consulting engagement with PUMA to include operational assistance surrounding the roll-out of a global facebook management platform. PUMA is our first (paying) client, our relationship dates to 2004. Thanks guys!

Yes it's true! Italian automaker Fiat is returning to the US market with it's iconographic car, the 500. A series of events were held during Art Basel Miami 2010 to publicize the introduction and a mural was hand painted at a local street corner. coBRANDiT was engaged to create a snappy timelapse video showing the process of it's creation; check out the results above!

During the week of October 4-8, 2010 internet business & marketing association MITX organized a multi-location event series known as FutureM. Hill Holliday agreed to underwrite a multi-faceted video series , but who to call? The production schedule would be crazy...12 formal interviews and 18 plus events to cover, all with a 24 hour delivery schedule.

The answer: coBRANDiT. We produced nearly 30 short format videos over the course of 5 days, garnering thousands of views for Boston's most dynamic series of marketing conferences as well as live streaming FutureM opening night. At the end of it all we put together a snappy 2 minute piece for use in promoting FutureM 2011.

The Brief:
Ford is teaming up with the creators of The Amazing Race to create a new web series -- Focus Rally: America. It's the ultimate interactive cross-country road rally. They're looking for an elite group to take the wheel of the all-new 2012 Focus for five weeks, beginning in February -- digitally savvy people with a hunger for adventure. The first casting call was to take place on Friday October 15th at BlogWorld Expo 2010 in Las Vegas, NV...and Ford wanted a video of the process for display at BlogWorld (and on the web) by 9:30am Saturday the 16th. The video had to be fun, fast-paced, and informative; it had to work on a big screen in front of a live audience and it had to have legs for the web: all web traffic would be driven to focusrally.com and a related facebook page. Who could deliver a sharp piece on such a crazy deadline?

coBRANDiT's Role:
We put a two man team on the scene, carefully mapping out the shoot in advance. We started shooting video at 10:30 and wrapped the shoot by 2:30...then we whisked into post-production. Edits, titles, transitions and beats were pulled together in a whirlwind of caffeine fueled activity. The video was uploaded for client review late that night, changes were made at 7:00am, and the piece delivered on time and to spec.

Results:
"The video is fantastic and was very well received...it was so nice to know that you had everything under control and I love the result." -- Karen U., Ogilvy PR Worldwide / Ford Motor Company

Xenith required a video demonstrating proper emergency removal of it's X-1 football helmet. coBRANDiT made it happen with integrated sound and title design.

Geo-locational services tie the link between digital and offline: Unlike a Facebook fan or Twitter follower, you actually know when a geo-location user has entered your store or other target location. All geo services rely on users "checking in" to physical locations where (depending on service) they can find other users, append data (tips, posts, pictures, etc.), find out about local happenings, and earn points. The top geo-location services include elements of game play into their offerings; savvy marketers are creating new experiences for these environments and driving foot traffic, earned media, and word-of-mouth. The top two geo-location services for marketers seem to be Gowalla and Foursquare, but others have more users and Facebook is poised to enter the fray.

How does it work? Gowalla (250k users, Austin TX based) and Foursquare (1.1mm users, NYC based) have reward systems in place whereby users earn "badges" or "pins" or titles (such as "mayor"). Badges, pins, and titles are so far not officially redeemable for anything, but business are beginning to create incentives and rewards for users to check in and earn these honors.

Current mktg. uses in Foursquare include:
--Branded badges: Earned (or “unlocked”) with a certain number of check-ins at given locations, showing a badge may result in a special gift, experience, or bragging rights.
--Rewards for Mayors: Mayors are top location visitors, and may be comped meals or allowed past the velvet rope, etc. Bragging rights are also hotly contested!
--Check-ins often prompt a special offer (discount, glass of champagne) that may be broadcast to friends (either through Foursquare or twitter/facebook/etc.)
--Somewhat random give-aways to users who check-in: gear, special invite, etc. (choose a well-known blogger for greater spread, this takes coordination).
--Foursquare allows “tips” to be included in location info, retail stores seed their locations with tips, facts, stories. They also use the “to-do” function to drive traffic to other venues or provide fashion pointers.
--The “Swarm” badge is tough to unlock...50 people need to check in simultaneously. Create an opportunity for people to earn the badge, PLUS get some sweet special.
--Lucky magazine has gone heavy into Foursquare. Are they your demo? Partner with them or a similar tuned-in property to offer promotions or sneak peaks at new gear/demos/behind-the-scenes.
--Leaderboard sponsorships: Leaderboards show top activity in a given market. In November ‘09 Pepsi sponsored the NYC leaderboard to raise $$ for a non-profit. At the time Foursquare users in NYC generated some 150k points on the leaderboard, Pepsi donated 4 cents per point to charity.
--Jimmy Choo ran a treasure hunt in London. Shoes were left at specific locations and users were sent out to find them. Finders keepers! Great press and WOM virality.
--Diesel ran a more sophisticated campaign in NYC to promote a sale at it’s flagship store: Users who checked in within a 3 block radius of the store were notified of the sale. Users who checked in at the store received a free t-shirt and were invited to participate in the Be Stupid campaign.
--Coach Men’s Store Cologne Giveaway: For opening weekend of their Men’s Store in NYC, Coach gave away free cologne ($85 value) to the first 200 customers who checked into the store. 10% of the traffic to the store that weekend came with Foursquare check-ins.
--MTV has set up “celebrity mode” Foursquare accounts that let fans know where reality stars are temporarily located. Great word-of-mouth, great turnouts.

Articles on specific campaigns run on Foursquare:
mashable.com/fashion-foursquare-diesel
mashable.com/2010/04/foursquare-jimmy-choo
mashable.com/fashion-location-based
mashable.com/foursquare-brands
http://ht.ly/1SHnH (21 case studies, Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, and MyTown)
blog.foursquare.com/as-you-may-know-every-checkin-on-foursquare

Possible issue: Foursquare relies on user input for physical address locations. People game the system by entering addresses they're not actually at, thereby claiming false points/mayorships and creating user outrage. In comparison, Gowalla locations are gps based, this makes it easier to check-in, and you can't cheat on your location.

Gowalla allows virtual goods to be left or "dropped" at locations, and then picked up by others, kind of akin to virtual geocaching. Histories attach to these items (user X dropped item Z here yesterday). Branded virtual goods can be redeemed for real goods.

Possible business uses include scenarios such as: Retailer creates a virtual item and seeds it in various physical locations. It can be redeemed only on a given day. Gowalla sends out an announcement to its’ users, and then everyone goes to retailer on that day and gets the item or experience.

Like Foursquare, Gowalla offers custom event and place stamps (instead of badges) which show up in “passports”. Holders of these custom pins and stamps may show them for special treatment of some kind. Gowalla also allows brands and users to set up “trips” that guide others from one place to another. Pub crawl? City hot spots? Completing a curated trip and gathering all the stamps could earn the user gear or some other reward.
techcrunch.com/gowalla-business-models

FWIW, Foursquare seems to have more WOM virality, more discussion and updates (via twitter, Facebook) and is the darling of the SXSW crowd, but many think the Gowalla user interface is better. Both services are used almost exclusively on iphones, though android apps exist with others in the pipeline, notably for BB. If one of these services was used for a temporary event/location it would be smart to move users/the experience to a local, more permanent spot when the temporary event closes. Foursquare and the others are beginning to mine user data on behalf of brand marketers, creating a new, physical graph of customers and their movements.

Other Geo services include:

Brightkite, 2mm users:
Brightkite is less reward focused, and seems primarily geared to pure social networking, with location based photo and text posting and none of the game play of Gowalla and Foursquare. However Brightkite does offer “local promotions” and has signed up 100 plus brands to drive traffic and offer rewards in local stores: They just inked a deal for all 11,000 Starbucks locations, and have begun offering Starbuck’s badges like Foursquare. They also recently launched the nation's first augmented reality ad campaign with Best Buy: point your phone at a participating store, and receive special location-based offers. Brightkite is working with Layar, a technology which lets users see posts and comments thru their phone cameras overlaid on real world landmarks.

marketingvox.com/twitter-brightkite-push-ar-closer-to-mainstream
techcrunch.com/brightkite-2-million-users
thenextweb.com/fly-a-brightkite-into-a-starbucks-near-you

Loopt, 3mm users:
“Before there was Foursquare or Gowalla, Loopt was the original smart phone service for sharing your whereabouts with friends. The point is to let buddies know where you are so that they can join you, and to find hour-by-hour listings of all the cool stuff going on in your neck of the woods. However, while you can check in to locations, rewards are limited to coupons from nearby retailers.” Not user-editable, no game mechanics. laptopmag.com/loopt.aspx

Whrrl, ?? users:
“Whrrl is all about communities of people inspiring each other to take real-world action, and we’ve thought deeply about how to channel that for causes...At the core of Whrrl are Societies, groups of people who check in to the same kinds of places, who care about the same kinds of things. The whole experience is wrapped in an “influence” game, in which you gain points based on how successful you are at inspiring others to do your real-world recommendations. As you gain points, you level up in your Societies, and that unlocks higher-level “Social Offers” from merchants as well as special privileges in Whrrl.” Yet Whrrl lacks compelling case studies, and has changed it's business model and communications a few times in the last couple of years.
techcrunch.com/whrrl-3
blog.networksolutions.com/whrrl-increases-the-gamesmanship-of-location-based-services-by-inspiring-your-real-life-friends

MyTown, 2mm users:
Real estate based, MyTown is “like monopoly in the real world”. Check-ins at physical locations earn points which can be used to buy or improve properties (and ultimately towns). A MyTown user could “own” a given retail store, or stores. The more improvements to a piece of property you “own” the more rent (points) you make when a user checks in. While there are virtual goods exchanged by users, MyTown is more purely game based, there’s less of a social aspect: people play for the points, not for the community or for real-world rewards. It’s been called “the Farmville of location-based gaming.” See techcrunch.com/mytown-3

Facebook Geo: Massive potential, currently not available. Could launch any day or not for awhile. Much speculation as to whether Facebook Geo would play nice with other platforms or destroy them. See this AdAge article.

FYI Foursquare is hosting global MeetUps on June 16th...check it out and get involved here. Cheers!